Bo Schembechler, who became one of college football’s great coaches in two decades at Michigan, died Friday after taping a TV show on the eve of the Wolverines’ No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with perennial rival Ohio State. He was 77.

“This is a tremendous shock and an irreplaceable loss,” University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman said at a news conference at Providence Hospital in Southfield, where the coach died.

Schembechler collapsed at the studios of WXYZ-TV in the Detroit suburb and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. His death at 11:42 a.m. was confirmed by Mike Dowd, chief investigator for the medical examiner’s office in Oakland County.

Police were sent to the station about 9:25 a.m. along with the city’s fire department and escorted the ambulance, Southfield police spokesman John Harris said.

“It was probably not a heart attack; it just stopped working,” Dr. Shukri David said.

Schembechler had a heart attack on the eve of his first Rose Bowl in 1970 and another one in 1987. He had two quadruple heart-bypass operations, and doctors implanted a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat after he became ill during a taping at WXYZ on Oct. 20.

No great surprise given his age and long history with heart disease. Still, he was a legendary figure in college football and will be missed.

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